


I am Lord Voldemort

by unknowableroom_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Action, Drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-03-21
Updated: 2006-08-08
Packaged: 2019-01-19 14:02:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12411708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknowableroom_archivist/pseuds/unknowableroom_archivist
Summary: I was nothing. Worthy neither of attention or care. But I have changed. I have made my life worth noticing. I have made sure that everyone cares. No one will forget what I have done, and they will remember no one else. I am Lord Voldemort.





	1. Day One

**Author's Note:**

> Note from ChristyCorr, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Unknowable Room](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Unknowable_Room), a Harry Potter archive active from 2005-2016. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after May 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Unknowable Room collection profile](http://www.archiveofourown.org/collections/unknowableroom).

Tom had been thinking about the Professor's visit for weeks. This new place, Hogwarts, sounded so strange and exciting, it made him anxious. He would be alone in this place, even more than he had been at the orphanage. Not that he minded being alone, he liked it far more than the company of just about anyone, but being surrounded by students older, certainly more powerful than he, was something he was not looking forward to. He had already made up his mind to be the best, more powerful, more learned, more trusted than all the rest. His would be the school, and he its master, or so he thought.

It was a lazy day. Rather dark as well. Summer had come to an abrupt end at September's beginning this year, though it was still stiflingly humid it was blustery and cold as Tom entered King's Cross Station. Earlier the day before he had made his trip into Diagon Alley, collecting books, supplies, and most interestingly, his wand, the same tool Professor Dumbledore had used to set his wardrobe on fire with a flick. Though of course he did not know at the time just how much trouble this particular wand would get him in later in life. Tom walked through the station with his case behind him, until he came to platform nine, which in turn led directly to platform 10, and in between, a brick barrier. Tom considered his situation. _Should I wait? Surely I can't be the last to arrive._ It was only 10:30, a full half hour before the train was due to leave. _Platform 9....._ he looked there, the next train was due at 11:15. _Platform 10....._ The next train was due in ten minutes. _I must be missing something....unless...._ Tom thought for a moment what he was dealing with. _They wouldn't let just anyone get on a train to a magic castle, there must be a magic way to get in, but I haven't been to the school, what if I don't know how?_ All this thinking brought him next to the barrier between platforms, which he leaned on quite casually, expecting it to act as any normal brick wall should, but it didn't. It acted quite unlike any brick wall Tom had ever seen and never pushed back at all, causing him to fall through and bang his head on the concrete floor of Platform 9 3/4.

_Am I dead?_ Tom thought to himself, still lying on his back with his feet and cart left on the other side of the magic barrier. Not the most rational of thoughts, but understandable nonetheless. He continued to peruse the thought, trying to ignore the terrible pounding in his head, until a very strange man with a handlebar mustache and a conductor’s hat came into his vision. Tom immediately scrambled back to his feet and winced as the blood rushed from his head. 

"You alright, son? Took quite a fall there, should know to test a wall before you go leaning against it, never know when one might decide to catch you by surprise." The man said cheerfully. He was dressed in a blue suit with gold buttons and several golden tassels hanging around his coat. His pants were blue as well, and had obviously been meticulously pressed to firm out the crease running down the middle. He was bald, had cheery eyes, yellowed teeth, big ears, and a smile as wide as his face. And he was very red. His face reminded Tom of a tomato if someone had stuck a large brown mustache in the middle. 

"I'm fine." Tom said brusquely, eyeing this strange man. "Oh dear," The man said quickly. "My name is Roger, Roger Diggs. I make sure the train is on time, it's got places to go other than Hogwarts you know."

_No, I didn't._ Tom thought to himself, but he wouldn't mention that. He hated not knowing about his surroundings, or anything else for that matter. "I've got to get on the train." Tom said.

"Don't worry about it." Roger assured him. "I'll help you with your bags." He reached back through the barrier quickly and grabbed the rolling case on the other side. "Well then, let’s get you on board." He said, his voice was deep and raspy, it sounded as if he had been in the military. He grabbed the tag attached to the handle of Tom's bag and read the text on it. "Tom, is it? Well the boarding station is just this way." Tom followed quietly. Tom hadn't really noticed, but the train beside them had 'The Hogwarts Express' painted in gold letters across the side of its red body. It was a long train. There were several sets of stairs set at intervals of about 200 feet apart. They reached the nearest and Mr. Diggs hoisted his bag onto a platform on the train that led into a compartment. "Here you go; all you need to do is find a compartment and take a seat." He said, smiling broadly. "Thank you." Tom replied courteously, he was looking forward to putting some distance between himself and Roger, his disposition annoyed Tom. Dragging his case behind him, Tom soon found an empty compartment. All along the way he had been greeted by noisy boys and girls, older and younger, having a good time and greeting last year's friends. He wanted no part of it; he didn't feel welcome and didn't wish to be. So entering his personal haven he closed the sliding door and attempted hoisting his bag up into the rack above the seats. It really wasn't all that heavy, he had hardly anything in it. Two sets of used robes, a few used books, some random odds and ends, quills, a sealed bottle of ink, and a harmonica, but the rack was high enough that lifting it over his head to put it on the rack was unwieldy, and he nearly dropped the thing several times before someone else opened the sliding door of the compartment. He was very small, thin, and sallow faced. He stood sort of hunched over, as if expecting someone to strike him any second. After finally achieving his goal, the case had slid just over the edge to balance and stay on the rack, Tom jumped and hit it several times to get it further back, he would figure out how to get it down later, and only just noticed the newcomer. 

"What do you want." Tom said, displeased his solitude had been disturbed.

The small boy seemed reluctant to answer. "I....I just saw, you were...alone, so I decided to come in..." He said, his voice was so small it was barely audible. He started to turn and leave. 

Tom thought quickly. "Wait, stay." _Easily bent, this one. One toadie down._ "I want you to stay." He said, his voice sounded perfectly honest, finely tuned through practice on others. In his years at the orphanage he had become a master of deception. "My name is Tom." He said, though it took all his strength. He hated that name, more than anything else he hated that name.

"Th..thanks." The boy said, stuttering seemed to be his forte. "They call me Avery." 

Over the next half hour Tom made small talk, weedling as much information as he could out of this boy, he never took on. Before 15 minutes had passed Tom knew everything there was to know about him, and plenty more about his new world. Avery had been raised surrounded by magic. 

It was near time for the train to leave, 10 minutes or so left before the final whistle. Another boy, taller even than Tom, by the name of Rookwood had entered, along with a pale faced, dark boy named Mulciber, a cruel, black haired boy named Dolohov, and another named Rosier. The six of them sat in the train compartment, and began their journey toward the castle.  

 

 


	2. Hogwarts

Tom spent several hours on the Hogwarts Express with his room of future accomplices. Over these hours he masterfully interrogated each and every one of them without attracting their notice, while still keeping himself as cloaked and hidden as possible. He wanted these boys, this first cadre of influential "friends" who he could use as masterfully as those children from the orphanage on his way to the top. 

He felt vulnerable not knowing nearly enough about the magical world as a whole. So many pieces, so much power readily available and all these fools took it for granted. He knew that he would easily surpass all of them; he was so eager to devour all knowledge presented to him.

"I think I can see the castle." Avery said quietly.

The boys crowded the window, pushing and shoving to get a better view. As the train rounded a bend in the tracks the perpetual Britain fog parted like a curtain to reveal a massive, ancient castle perched on a hill. Cheerful, dancing candle-light illuminated every window, cheerful enough to perk up even Tom's cold heart. 

Tom immediately turned from the window and went back to his seat. He pressed his forehead against the cool windowpane and tried to banish that warm feeling of the castle. He couldn't afford it. Tom wasn't there for love and happiness. A boy of 11 years old and he already knew what he wanted. He wanted the power Dumbledore had. Not just the tricks and the shadowmagic, he wanted real power. Nothing else mattered in the end. He knew it was there under the surface, waiting to be called upon, and he knew that he could call on that same power to do whatever he wanted. 

Tom turned from his silent soliloquy to see Avery bouncing up and down behind Rookwood, trying to see out of the window. 

"Would you sit down you stupid git?" Rookwood spat angrily after Avery landed on his back for the third time. 

Avery squeaked and quickly sat back in his seat. 

_Maybe I don't need that one after all._ Tom thought.  

The boys sat back down as the train pulled closer to the castle. Rain began to patter against the windows and Tom felt butterflies as the whistle blew and the train finally came to a stop. For once in his life he wasn't prepared for what was happening. How could he be? He'd never been to a magical castle before and he didn't know what to expect. 

A thunderous roar ushered down the hall outside of the compartment as hundreds of students piled out of the rooms and rushed to the nearest exit. Tom's group of miscreants filed out with the rest of the students while Tom waited for the initial rush to subside. After the thunderous roar quieted into a sort of murmur Tom stood on the seat and jumped to grab his case. Pulling it down with as much decorum as he could muster, he exited his compartment and walked to the nearest exit. 

Tom's case bounced on the stairs coming down from the train and clacked on cobblestones that composed the floor of the Hogwarts train station. The rain made loud banging noises on a tin roof enclosure over the student's heads. Tom bumped into a third year girl whose badge had the word Ravenclaw sewn into a blue coat of arms on the breast. He hadn't noticed that everyone but the first years had different crests, and that the hems of their robes were different colors. Green, blue, yellow and red he saw, and on the crests were a snake, a raven, a badger, and a lion. He wished he knew what this all meant. 

"Students! Students please come to order!" A small man in a robin's egg blue robe and a very pointy hat addressed the students. "Terribly sorry for the delay, house elves fussing terribly about the feast, had to calm them all down. Kept babbling on about a poltergeist." He said, almost to himself, for the students in the back were standing on tip-toes wondering what voice had called out. 

"Yes, well, I would welcome you all back to Hogwarts but that job is for Headmaster Dippet! Instead I ask that all first years please follow me, the rest of you can make your way up to the castle in the usual manner."  


 

 


End file.
